Practice 8 – Integrate often

Integrate often; actually, all the time! As someone once said, "Continuous is more often than you think." There is nothing more frustrating than resolving merge conflicts. Continuous integration is less about the tool and more about the team practice. Integrate the code into one code base at least a few times a day. Forget about long-lasting feature branches and a huge number of local changes. Trunk-based development and feature toggles for the win!

• Use trunk-based development and feature toggles instead of feature branches.
• If you need a branch or local changes, make sure that you integrate with the rest of the team at least once a day.
• Always keep the trunk healthy; make sure you run tests before you merge into the baseline.
• Run the pipeline after every commit to the repository for a faster feedback cycle.